


Home...?

by P0tatonoah



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Angst, Break Up, Feels, M/M, Post-Canon, Sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2020-08-29
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:01:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26167567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/P0tatonoah/pseuds/P0tatonoah
Summary: [From: Drew at 04:05 a.m]Come home[From: Drew at 06:35 a.m]Neil[From: Drew at 10:12 a.m]please...[From: Drew at 11:54 a.m]Fuck
Relationships: Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Comments: 22
Kudos: 144





	Home...?

[From: Drew at 04:05 a.m]  
Come home

[From: Drew at 06:35 a.m]  
Neil

[From: Drew at 10:12 a.m]  
please  
...

[From: Drew at 11:54 a.m]  
Fuck

Neil couldn’t stop staring at the texts. He knew what that word meant to Andrew. And seeing it directed at him was tearing him apart. 

For seven years Andrew had been his home. They were each other’s anchors when everything else had been storm and chaos. But those days were past them now. They were safe and they were whole. All of the broken pieces put together by their unsteady hands (and Betsy’s, although Neil would never admit to it).

And after getting to know who he was beyond the scared Nathaniel and the obsessed Exy player, when he finally found something more, he was able to realize that something still felt off. 

Andrew’s jealousy wasn’t cute anymore and it definitely didn’t make him laugh. Neil felt like he was suffocating, just like he’d been under his mother’s grip. Even though Andrew was just trying to protect him, Abram understood enough about love now to know that protecting someone wasn’t the same thing as holding them so close that the only thing they saw was you.

Still as Neil boarded the plane, he kept looking at his sides, trying to find any excuse not to go. Maybe he was at the wrong gate, maybe he got the wrong ticket, but he knew that was impossible. So he just tried to remember why he was leaving in the first place.

Drew had given him a home, a name and Neil loved him for it. He always would. But the price he was paying for it had become too high. 

Andrew kept him on a leash and for a while Neil was happy for it. He was pleased with the thought that his angry midget of a boyfriend would do anything for him. But as time passed and he got to see what that actually looked like, what “anything” really meant, that thought darkened and left a sour taste in his mouth.

Jeremy, Kevin, Nicky, every new team mate, that one guy at the store once… How many people had gotten hurt because Andrew had seen danger where there was none or because he simply didn’t like “sharing his things”? Being with him had become a constant exercise on mending broken bridges and now Neil was just tired.

So as he handed his ticket and thought of the miles ahead of him, he knew he was going home. But for the first time in years, that didn’t mean Andrew. 

\--

Andrew was on his way to the airport, cursing all the stupid traffic lights that seemed hellbent on turning red just for him.

How could Neil even do this to him? Run away like that when he’d promised he never would. Fuck, this was all kinds of wrong.

Andrew could barely remember Neil’s words to him last night. And who could blame him, when his world was falling apart? It was easier to remember the feeling. Like oil burning his skin, exposing the muscle underneath. But the worst of it was Neil’s look. Like he was just… done.

Andrew had left then -he needed to think, to smoke, to break some shit - and when he came back, Neil’s duffel was already packed. 

“You’ll just fucking quit? Guess it is just like riding a bike then.” The words came out of his mouth like a punch, an invite to keep fighting, but Neil just shook his head and left. 

“He fucking left” Andrew whispered to himself now. The lyrics to “Runaway" by that trashy band came to his mind and he laughed. "Fuck me if this isn’t ironic” he thought. He remembered getting in his car to pick up Neil from that same airport when he was just some scared kid, running away from his past.

But Abram wasn’t running now, was he? Because if he were, he would remember to log off their shared calendar. He wasn’t leaving his life or his identity, he was just leaving Andrew.

So as Minyard parked the car, he tried to pin the exact moment when things had started going to hell. Except that the more he tried, the more he realized it wasn’t a single moment. It was like pulling a thread of an old t-shirt, it just kept unraveling. 

All the times Andrew had picked a fight over some stupid shit, all the times Neil sighed softly as he apologized for Andrew’s rash behavior. When had Neil last invited him to one of his team's get-togethers? When was the last time his boyfriend felt comfortable introducing him to his new friends? 

Andrew kept trying to remember the last time he’d felt Neil at ease, and when he failed he just felt like shit.

“I gave him a home, and then I locked him in it” well wasn’t he a fucking poet?

He got there just in time to see Neil go through airport security. He could’ve called, shouted Josten’s name, but he didn’t. As Neil got his keys and cellphone from the tray, all Andrew could do was watch. Suddenly he could feel every scar on his body being ripped open, fresh. All the pain he thought he would never feel again pulsing through his body. Andrew couldn’t breath and so the scream died on his throat, air-starved. He couldn’t bring himself to call because he knew what he’d done and he wouldn’t hurt Abram anymore, not when Andrew had promised to protect him.

So he just stood there, and watched Neil go.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first fic I write in a long time, so please let me know what you think!
> 
> I'm also on tumblr and twitter @p0tatonoah


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